Sheffield Taxi Drivers

Deerobe · 06-05-2007, 22:16

My 14 year old son has been in London visiting his father. He got of a train at about 9:40pm and was tired and not feeling well having injured his left leg earlier in the day. I told him to get in a taxi and I would pay the taxi upon arrival at our address. Not one taxi driver at the station would take him so I ended up calling Shefftax. So 40 mins later my son is eventually in a taxi on his way home. Now I am well aware that people rip taxi drivers off but I was prepared to talk to the driver on my son's mobile. They would not take him because he did not have enough money and they were not prepared to talk to me on his mobile so I rang Shefftax and booked him a cab. In the end a Shefftax taxi picked him up and brought him home. Now I know there are people who will rip off taxi drivers but I am not one of those scummers and nor is my son and I am a bit perturbed that a 14 year old was left sitting on a bench at the station unable to get home. Fortunately he had his mobile phone and I was able to arrange another taxi for him.

Of course it would be nice if you could actually catch a bus at the station. It takes me about seven to ten minutes to walk to the bus stop in Arundal Gate. It can be a real struggle when you have luggage. Even worse if you have just come off a long train journey and are feeling ill.

Anyway that is the end of my rant.

Dee

jl-heating · 06-05-2007, 22:25

typical ...

jen13kd · 06-05-2007, 22:35

he should have just got in the taxi and told them where he wanted to go then you should have been waiting to greet the taxi and pay the driver.

I've done this before without a problem. If you tell them that you've got no money, then they wont want to risk taking you.

dinger · 06-05-2007, 22:39

thats the problem too many people rip of taxis and its there living at the end of the day so thay arnt goinn to risk it

suggs69 · 06-05-2007, 23:07

well its your duty as a parent to make sure that your son had the money to pay for the taxi. me myself are not too keen on taxi drivers in sheffield but you have to make sure your kidds got the money to get home...................

dinger · 06-05-2007, 23:11

if no one would take him in there taxis then i think the only other way to make sure hes safe it to get in a taxi and pick him up but thats expensive, unless you could get some one eles to pick him up

*_ash_* · 07-05-2007, 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by jen13kd

he should have just got in the taxi and told them where he wanted to go then you should have been waiting to greet the taxi and pay the driver.

I've done this before without a problem. If you tell them that you've got no money, then they wont want to risk taking you.

Totally agree. The second bit especially. If you tell a taxi driver you haven't got any money, you will rarely get picked up. Although in this case it's unfortunate that it was a young lad.

btbwild · 07-05-2007, 09:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by jen13kd

he should have just got in the taxi and told them where he wanted to go then you should have been waiting to greet the taxi and pay the driver.

I've done this before without a problem. If you tell them that you've got no money, then they wont want to risk taking you.

I was recently taken ill at work & no way would have made it on the bus so I rang my partner to see if he had any cash in house (which he did) so I just got in a black cab when I was 5 mins from home I rang him again & he came out to pay it was not a problem.
I have in past had prob with taxis one driver wanted to keep my bag,watch & rings while I went in the house to bring money out even though the house was middle one of three and not hidden escape route what a cheek

needless to say I refused he then wanted to drive me to the police station luckily my partner came out to see why I had been sat outside so long (hope he didnt think I was chatting driver up lol)

Deerobe · 07-05-2007, 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by suggs69

well its your duty as a parent to make sure that your son had the money to pay for the taxi. me myself are not too keen on taxi drivers in sheffield but you have to make sure your kidds got the money to get home...................

He did have enough money but the train was on go slow because of engineering works between Bedford and Wellingborough so he was hungry and spent money on a sandwich and drink. Leaving himself with about £4 but it costs about £7 to get back here. He was going to walk to the bus stop and catch the bus but his leg was giving him a lot of pain and he was feeling ill. This was never a problem when we lived in London. on the two ocasions this type of thing happened the taxi driver spoke to me on the phone and brought him home. It seems that there are a lot of scummers here who rip off taxi drivers so they won't take the risk. Thing is I use the taxi service every Friday and I am generous with my tips. I feel if they knew it was my lad they probably would have brought him home.

He has caught a taxi before and they asked him to show them the money before they would take him. They do this with all young men, my friend's sons get it all the time.

robbo12 · 07-05-2007, 21:04

Sheffield Taxis are rubbish.Thank you.

*_ash_* · 08-05-2007, 00:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbo12

Sheffield Taxis are rubbish.Thank you.

What a marvellous piece of writing. Please share some more of your vast knowledge.

B133L3 · 08-05-2007, 06:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deerobe

My 14 year old son has been in London visiting his father. He got of a train at about 9:40pm and was tired and not feeling well having injured his left leg earlier in the day. I told him to get in a taxi and I would pay the taxi upon arrival at our address. Not one taxi driver at the station would take him so I ended up calling Shefftax. So 40 mins later my son is eventually in a taxi on his way home. Now I am well aware that people rip taxi drivers off but I was prepared to talk to the driver on my son's mobile. They would not take him because he did not have enough money and they were not prepared to talk to me on his mobile so I rang Shefftax and booked him a cab. In the end a Shefftax taxi picked him up and brought him home. Now I know there are people who will rip off taxi drivers but I am not one of those scummers and nor is my son and I am a bit perturbed that a 14 year old was left sitting on a bench at the station unable to get home. Fortunately he had his mobile phone and I was able to arrange another taxi for him.

Of course it would be nice if you could actually catch a bus at the station. It takes me about seven to ten minutes to walk to the bus stop in Arundal Gate. It can be a real struggle when you have luggage. Even worse if you have just come off a long train journey and are feeling ill.

Anyway that is the end of my rant.

Dee

Your son is 14 been away for how long????(nvm)He felt ill due to a injury to his leg.............Taxi drivers didnt want to know

Not there responsability They was after all @ work But i wonder why you didnt pick him up /meet him/make arrangements if it was my child i would have made sure i or someone close to the family was to meet him even more so for being apart from him

Not everyone is like me i guess

*_ash_*
Quote:
Originally Posted by robbo12 View Post
Sheffield Taxis are rubbish.Thank you.
What a marvellous piece of writing. Please share some more of your vast knowledge.

Not like you to be sarcastic

Deerobe · 08-05-2007, 07:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by B133L3

Your son is 14 been away for how long????(nvm)He felt ill due to a injury to his leg.............Taxi drivers didnt want to know

Not there responsability They was after all @ work But i wonder why you didnt pick him up /meet him/make arrangements if it was my child i would have made sure i or someone close to the family was to meet him even more so for being apart from him

Not everyone is like me i guess

*_ash_*
Quote:
Originally Posted by robbo12 View Post
Sheffield Taxis are rubbish.Thank you.
What a marvellous piece of writing. Please share some more of your vast knowledge.

Not like you to be sarcastic

You are right, not everyone is living in your circumstances or like you.

He was away for one day. He did not tell me about his leg because it was not bad earlier in the day. It was not until he got off the train and started walking that he found it painful.

I did make arrangements to pick him up. I called a taxi service and they picked him up.

Unfortunately we don't all have the benefit of a car and relatives who live locally and I suffer from arthritis which makes it even more difficult. I rely on the public transport service all the time so it is inconvenient when I am let down by the system.

Yes the taxi drivers are at work but their work is to provide a transport service. Unfortunately nowadays service seems to be sadly lacking among the taxi drivers at the station but the point made in this forum is that the lack of service is due to so many people ripping them off. It is symptomatic of the state of society today. But that is a whole new can of worms

madcow · 08-05-2007, 08:01

[QUOTE=Deerobe;2217990]

Quote:

Yes the taxi drivers are at work but their work is to provide a transport service. Unfortunately nowadays service seems to be sadly lacking among the taxi drivers at the station but the point made in this forum is that the lack of service is due to so many people ripping them off. It is symptomatic of the state of society today. But that is a whole new can of worms

unfortunately as you say a lack of trust is symptomatic of the way society as a whole is today,
but if you look at it from the cabbies point of veiw i.e. do i take a 14 yo boy with no money ,hoping to get paid at the other end, or do i take the buisness-man knowing i'm going to get paid.
what would you have done in all honesty ?

rmc86uk · 08-05-2007, 10:23

I for one cannot fault taxis in Sheffield. I never have trouble getting one with my mates every weekend. The asian taxi drivers are the best where as the white taxis drivers are horrible. I queued up once a couple of month back when the council decided to have designated taxi pick up stops (terrible idea) I had been queueing for an hour in the freezing cold alone. I got to about third from the front and these 2 young women and 2 digusting 40 somethings asked if they could jump in with me. I agreed as it was on the way to my house and they were going to a bit further on to Swallownest. I got to where i wanted to be and gave them a fiver. They told me to pay up the full fare (£15) which i said wasn't fair as it should have been shared out. The taxi driver acting clever thinking he could pull the disgusting women locked me in the taxi and threatened me with the police until i paid up and showed them respect. Typical as it was my taxi start with!!!!!!!

robbo12 · 08-05-2007, 10:28

Thats the norm most do a turn for the free ride home.Everbodys happy.

SleepyHead · 08-05-2007, 10:30

I've never had a problem with TD's refusing to take me, although I've had the odd muppet who doesn't know their way to Crookes from Sharrow.

I suppose if he was a public transport service - in the sense of publicly owned - then he mightn't have had much reason to refuse to take your son.

Seeing as he's a private business he can take who he likes and there we're into the realm of personal judgment (or lack thereof).

Good job your son had got his mobile with him!

4ny1ne · 08-05-2007, 11:33

Theres not many decent people in the world, everyone just stays back and is'nt prepared to help.

SleepyHead · 08-05-2007, 11:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4ny1ne

Theres not many decent people in the world, everyone just stays back and is'nt prepared to help.

That's business for you!

Ain't it great how capitalism and the pursuit of money makes everything just neat?

4ny1ne · 08-05-2007, 11:48

Yeaaaaaaaa BWOY!